USH'S STAR WARS GAME- The truth behind the Syphar n Kalar...

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Ushgarak
The first Star Wars Campaign revolved around the efforts of the Dark Side players to discover the ancient secrets of the Sith, whilst Palpatine manipulated the Jedi players into taking care of these potential rivals (after the Council foresaw that pursuing the Dark Siders would bring no good... as indeed happened).

The centrepiece of this Galactic chase was a place known as the 'Mausoleum of Demnos', of which legend said was invisible to all but worthy Sith acolytes, to whom it would appear and the spirit of Demnos would teach his secrets to.

That was the legend; part of the job of the players (other than finding the place) was to try and work out what the truth behind it all was. A long story short- they were never really happy with the answer. Bwahahaha.

But from the point the Mausoleum became part of the plot onwards, this thread:

http://www.killermovies.com/forums/f7/t12545.html

... remained stuck upon the Star Wars RP area in order to invite discussion and speculation about what the Mausoleum would actually end up being.


Well, folks, we have now come to the equivalent point for the second Campaign! Whilst the Campaign has spent a lot of time messing around iwth the Dark Siders just trying to surivve and shenanigans with the Feds, in the end you cannot beat a good old fashioned ancient Sith plotline (especially with Dark Siders playing) and this is where the story will be steering once more.


At the time of writing, the Dark Siders have discovered that the mystery behind the big Campaign plotline this time is something called the 'Syphar n Kalar', known as the SnK for short.

The story behind the SnK comes from a truly ancient source writing about something older still. Long ago, a man named 'Daemora of Ciceronicus' wrote a highly sensational piece of work called "A Political History of the Nations of the Sith' back during the very, very first time that the Sith invaded the Republic. It was an attempt to record the history of this mysterious new threat before their contact with the Republic.

But although ostensibly a historian, Daemora was more interested in telling a good story than doing serious historical work, and in his times researching he tended to just pass on any story he heard as fact. It was one of these stories that told of this 'Syphar n Kalar', something of such immense and unstoppable power that it brought to an end a mighty planetary siege that had previously been going on for seven years. The story says that after the Syphar n Kalar was used, this endless battle was brought to an abrupt finish in just three days. This led to victory in a massive Sith civil war. The name is all the detail Daemora gives- no idea of what or who it was.


Most serious historians doubt the existence of such a thing- if the Syphar n Kalar really existed, why was it never used again? An unstoppable weapon would have been handy against the Jedi, for a start. However, something about the story has caused much debate in the millennia since Daemora mentioned it, from Sith cultists, jedi historians and even the occasional warlord alike. And references to the SnK turn up every so often, in old writings and recordings... but none pre-dates Daemora's account, and hence it has always seemed likely that they were all just passing on what he said.

But now the Dark Siders have received corroborating evidence that suggests the SnK really DID exist- and furthermore that someone is making serious progress in tracking it down. And so they have begun the process... of tracking it down themselves. And although they do not know it yet, this is a race which the Light Sider players are going to be joining, eventually.


Here is the deal. Unlike last time when you knew nothing of the truth of the Mausoleum until you got there, this time not only is it possible to find out accurate info about the SnK beforehand, it is in fact essential else you will never find it. During gameplay you will pick up certain rumours about what the SnK was, or what it did, or how it worked etc. These rumours should help build up a coherent picture of the truth of the SnK. The problem is... not all the rumours will be true. In fact a good deal of them will be false. It is incumbent upon you as players to work out which ones are right, and hence focus your search in the right direction. if you start looking in the right places, you will start to pick up better and better rumours. If you look in the wrong places, you'll receive more fakes.


This is a process that will take a long time, of curse. So... feel free to speculate away! Incidentally, whilst I am recording all the info here, obviously Light and Dark Siders can only act upon information that their side has received.

Ushgarak
JEDI RUMOURS

The Jedi are currently in blissful ignorance about the whole thing...

Ushgarak
DARK SIDE RUMOURS

The Dark Siders have so far found several generic rumours about the SnK and have not begun the process of deciding which ones are true or not yet.


Rumour 1: Any Force Sensitive being can learn to use the Syphar n Kalar


Rumour 2: The Syphar n Kalar only appeared to be human


Rumour 3: The Syphar n Kalar was a Cult. The details of the Cult are long lost but one fragment about it remains- The writings of the order are hidden where there is no night

teck92
Question: Are all dark siders able to join, or just a few. Since I just joined.

Lord Melkor
Rumour 1 sounds too generic to be that much important. The fact that it would not be useful for someone not Force Sensitive is kind of logical and not of dire importance -after all we are all force sensitive. 3 is most detailed.... As I said planet with two switching suns could be a place with no night? Or similar natural phenomenon?

Wouldn`t we get a lot info by allying with the Lady?

Ushgarak
As Rex has pointed out in the Dark Side, thread, the first rumour actually very much narrows down what kind of thing it could be.

General Kaliero
I submit my traditional suspicion that the current MacGuffin is, in fact, the Triforce.

With the first rumor, the SnK would have to be either some sort of Force-manipulated device, or an ability or teaching, some different way of using the Force.

The second rumor... it seems the least likely, but I don't want to dismiss it out of hand. It would be some sort of individual that appeared to be human... which could mean many different races, or even a droid. This is the most generic rumor, I think.

The third rumor would mean the SnK was a cult, but then what purpose does this cult serve? Either they were themselves special, which given the passage of time would not make the SnK extremely not useful for us, or they held some sort of power, which would seem to overlap with the first rumor.

In either case, what place has no night? Something or somewhere very close to a star, perhaps. Or maybe half of a planet that revolves at the same rate it orbits, so that one side is never-ending day.

Captain REX
Or even, as Gallador suggested, a place with two suns that just replace each other when one passes... which would be freaking weird and I think it would break physics.

General Kaliero
Originally posted by Captain REX
Or even, as Gallador suggested, a place with two suns that just replace each other when one passes... which would be freaking weird and I think it would break physics.
The "breaking physics" thing would be why I didn't suggest it... the stars would have to orbit the planet, I think.

Alkaselzer
Unless someone hid it in a star... meaning you should give up now!

Lord Melkor
regarding the third rumor that it was a Cult.... maybe there could be a link between that Cult and the Lady`s "sect"?

Okay, what do people with high Jedi Lore know about the artifacts that only Force Users could use, to try and verify that rumour? I mean, there must a logical basis to approach these rumours, right?

What basic things do we know of Darth Malphas that could be of relevance? Are there records that he was hunting for ancient lore that much?

Ushgarak
Use whatever EU source you like for things that only work for Force users. So far in the entire mythology of my game, no such thing has existed- at least, not on a spiritual level. Avalar had a more practical approach (doors where the switches were internal and so needed the Force to open them).

The problem with accurate information about the Malphan Wars is that a good deal of the galaxy burned during the time, and the Sith themselves disliked keeping records. But Malphas was an extremely knowledgeble Sith, that much people agree on. He was very much a Yoda type.

Captain REX
Darth Malphas, the Dark Yoda... hmm...

I almost want to discount it as a Cult but maybe say that whatever it is, it is possible that it is hidden in such a place. But who knows, we need to gather more info.

Where did we get these hints?

Ushgarak
These early hints are simply from various literary or historical accounts that you guys (mostly Gallador) have determined as good sources. Previously, despite the quality of the source, Gallador would have said "They are probably just parroting Daemora." But now he's saying... he wouldn't automatically rule out these ones being true.

Captain REX
I know for a fact that Galder wants to find Kuylen's secret archive. The Astrolabe will no doubt help us, as may the tablets.

Ushgarak
Ah well, Astrolabe + map = Sith awesomness...

Captain REX
Basically. While Galder is annoyed that Kuylen never told him anything, he is at least pleased that it is supposedly hidden away somewhere safe.

Jedireaper
The first word of the name appeared in AOTC when Obi Wan is on Kamino. Syphar.

Peach
Originally posted by Jedireaper
The first word of the name appeared in AOTC when Obi Wan is on Kamino. Syphar.

No it didn't. You're thinking of Sifo-Dyas.

Jedireaper
Ah, my mistake. Sorry for butting in.

Captain REX
The Sifo n Dyas! I knew it all along...

REXXXX
Have there been any hints about the Syphar N Kalar in the text-based Christmas games?

Ushgarak
No, but there was a reference to Meneleth.

The more astute of you might also have noticed that Avalar was mentioned, which puts the original dating of Avalar into question.

REXXXX
Yeah, saw the Opus and Avalar... didn't think about that. The original backstory was that it was built in the time of Lord Bane, but there it had it as an old story as of the Sith Wars, three thousand years earlier than Bane... what?

Ushgarak
It was destroyed in the 'final' Sith wars, and rthe general opinion is that it wasbuilt in thae same period.

Still, that never really did make sense. Why was it on the Astrolabe?

Although you do not know in which capacity, certainly the Sith considered the planet important thousands of years earlier, yes.

REXXXX
Huh. Maybe there was a reason the monks chose to build their monastery there. Too bad Galder didn't get to do much exploring back then.

Ushgarak
Some news from God just in-

The Syphar n Kalar is NOT a Macguffin.

For those of you not aware of this term, a Macguffin is a part of a story that drives the plot, but actually has no useful function within it. For example, the treasure in a treasure hunt is normally a Macguffin. It's not as if the protagonists are going to take the treasure and then spend it to achieve something. ALl their acheivements are put towards getting the treasure... and once you have it, it is the end of the story. It didn't do anything, but the whole story was about it.

One of the more famous Macguffins is in North by Northwest, where the whole story is about people trying to get a secret. We don;'t know what the secret is- in fact, it is entirely irrelevant to any event in the film, other than that it is everyone's ultimate objective. (Hitchcock himself described a macguffin as something that the plot centres around but that, ultimately, the audience doesn't care about)

Macguffins are common in fantasy and sci-fi, especially role-plays. Many artifacts that are "the one thing can destroy the dark lord" are essentially macguffins because they don't do anything other than allow the subsequent 'destroy the Dark Lord' story to happen. This is opposed to a +5 sword, which actually changes how you play the game. You could make the +5 sword also the Lord-killing macguffin, of course, but then the dark lord killing element of it is still a macguffin, separate from its 'makes my fighter better' ability. Most cures for diseases are macguffins, because they don't do anything other than, effectively, de-activate the plot, which was that there was this disease around...

You could be very much forgiven for thinking that thre SNK is the same- something that players will spend the latter half of the campaign chasing down, but of course will never actually DO anything, logically speaking (after all, we know no-one is going to rule the Galaxy with it).

But word of God is- no. The SNK WILL do something in-game...

REXXXX
Interesting indeed.

Ushgarak
Well, the Jedi are finally in the race!

They will have one huge advantage though0 the Jedi Archives have a section the Syphar n Kalar.

Obviously not much of an advantage, though, as it is basically in the fiction section.

Alkaselzer
I thought about that as soon as you mentioned fairy tale.

Lord Melkor
So , weren`t we supposed to vote to pursue one of the three rumors before Episode V started, or do I miss something with that mechanic?

Lord Melkor
So, Ush, are we still using this rumour system?

Amumu00
I found the game Star War at apknite

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